We all take up the guitar with the idea that someday we can play our own music. At first, the guitar is broken down into its sheer basics. Then, we slowly progress into chords, “hammer-ons”, “pull-offs”, and all the other skills needed to play along with popular songs. However, you’re never a “true” guitarist until you can play your own material.
Welcome to songwriting and the guitar; your guide to not only making great music, but great music that highlights the guitar. Writing songs takes a lot of time and effort. It’s true that practice will make you better, however some people are just born with a “natural ear.” They know what sounds great and when to incorporate it into the song.
In terms of songwriting, too many people focus on the finished product before they take into account all the components of songwriting. In order to master the craft of songwriting (and it is a craft), one must first master the basics. The song is generally broken down into different sections or components. When these components are fused together, a song is born. Your job is to combine all of them into a single masterpiece.
I like to compare a good song to a shake. The banana may taste alright in itself, but when you blend it with some berries and cream; the end result is a fantastic tasting combination. Thus, you may have a talent for writing lyrics, but the lack of a good sound will dull out the content. Here are the basics components of songwriting:
The first section of the song that the listener will hear is called the verse. The verse is the heart of the song, because it informs the listener what the song is about. A talented songwriter has the knack for creating a captivating sound along with imagery and details contained in the lyrics. The verse usually keeps a very natural and steady melodic flow, thus allowing the listener to connect with the lyrics.
The verse generally leads into a bridge and/or chorus. Some songwriters also refer to this part of the song as the “hook.” The chorus is the emotional high point of the song. The chorus is often repeatedly three to four times throughout the song, so it’s often very catchy and easy to sing along with. The chorus sums up the entire theme of the song. The chorus also differs melodically than from that of the verse. The main focus for the melody of the chorus is to create a bit of contrast between the verse and the chorus. This will give the listeners something to look forward too, but also will give them a sense of tension and release.
Songwriters love to mix the guitar into both the verse and chorus. Sometimes the guitar merely serves as a rhythmic backbone, while other times the guitar leads all the other instruments in the melody. The power of the guitar is also effected by the genre in which you play - as it will take much more precedence in metal/rock, when compared to country for example. Metal and Rock are renown for the guitar solo. Is is here where the guitar really takes off into an independent journey which represents both creativity and skill.
If you really want to become a master songwriter on the guitar, one should learn from the experts. Dial into your local radio station and listen to what’s hot. Songs are played over and over again on the radio because they are hits. Why are they hits? Because the songwriting is phenomenal and has the ability to connect with the audience. Aspiring songwriters should also reference music theory and the basics in order to gain a true understanding and appreciation for music. Also, Ultimate-Songwriting is a terrific one-stop reference.
For those of you who have seen the mildly comical movieAdventures in Babysitting, you’ll probably recognize the quote, “nobody gets outta here without singin’ the blues” from the film. At the climax of a chase sequence, the babysitter and the group of kids she is watching, appear to reach safety inside a busy underground club. However, there is one drastic difference. Everyone in the club is black, except for the babysitter and kids. The group attempts to dart out the back of the building, but an attendant of the club stops the group in their tracks and utters the infamous line – “Nobody gets outta here without singin’ the blues.” Long story short, the crew gets on stage and steals the show.
You too, can steal the show with an amazing beginner blues set. The Blues are one of the musical backbones of this great nation. It’s also a very difficult style to learn on the guitar. However, difficult never means it’s impossible. In fact, the web offers a number of great videos for beginners on the very basics of rhythm blues.
Blues Lessons might possibly contain the greatest collection of Blues lessons on the web. The site also features some fantastic information in regards to the blues scales, pentatonic licks, fingerpicking lessons, as well as Blues equipment, styles, and artists.
One of the first aspects of the Blues you’ll need to learn is the special scale system the genre utilizes. The Pentatonic Scale is the key to any Blues solo playing. Below is a couple of quick exercises (along with photos), needed to learn the 1/5 Pattern on the Pentatonic Scale.
1. Notes on the fingerboard.
Notes on the E string
You’re now ready to learn the five patterns of the Minor-Pentatonic Scale. Each pattern is movable over the complete fingerboard (e.g. in the keytone G the first pattern starts on the 3rd fret, in the keytone A it starts on the 5th fret, in keytone C on the 8th fret, etc).
1st Pattern
Minor Pentatonic Pattern 1
In the keytone G (from the 3rd fret, because the keytone G is on the 3rd fret) the first pattern looks like this.
Practice: Play from the the high E-string to the low E-string and back. Use one finger for each fret. That means Index finger for the 3rd fret in the key of G, the Middle Finger for the 4th fret, the Ringfinger for the 5th fret etc.
Pattern Exercise
If you want to move the pattern into another key, just use the graphic above where you can see the keytones on the fingerboard.
Excercise: A simple Pentatonic-Lick (use bendings, hammer-ons as much as you like)
For more sensational information and lessons on the Pentatonic Scale, check out Blues Lessons catalog of Blues Scales exercises.
JamPlay is a very versatile product which touches up on some of the beginner techniques. As always, you can also reference the wide number of blues lessons on You Tube.
Taking up a new hobby is easy. Something has led you to want to try and explore something new. However, the excitement of a new-found joy, such as learning to play the guitar, can only fuel you for so long. Over time, you need something wholesome to stay par for the course.
Make no mistake about it; learning to play the guitar at an intermediate or advanced skill level takes a lot of consistency. One who desires to play the guitar well must remain disciplined to a demanding schedule. If you are not taking private lessons with an instructor, the time spent practicing is 100% dependent on you. Fortunately, there are some very minor and subtle ways to stay dedicated to learning the guitar.
1. Learn with a Friend
A lot of people will seek a friend to teach them the guitar, but very few will seek someone to help learn the guitar with. There are several benefits to learning a new musical instrument with a friend, namely the issue of accountability. When you learn to play guitar alone, the only person who will challenge or hold you accountable is yours truly. However, when you learn with a friend, you both should (and will) push each other.
2. Reference You Tube
You Tube is filled with plenty of garbage that will never advance your brain cells, however the site also offers a nice selection of informative and instructional footage. This is especially the case when in regards to learning to play the guitar. You Tube is absolutely filled with home-made videos (some better than others) which show you everything from how to play the G chord to nailing the solo in “Free Bird”, like this one for example:
Whenever you are having a frustrating day with the guitar, reference one of your favorite video lessons on the site. Something made you appreciate or enjoy this particular video and you’ll likely rekindle that desire to play again after you watch it.
3. Follow a Guitar Blog
As is the case with You Tube, the internet is riddled with blogs. And just like You Tube, some are much better than others. Regardless, you should subscribe to at least one or two informative guitar blogs. The content is often added weekly (if not daily) and is filled with plenty of useful material relevant to learning to play the guitar in today’s world.
4. Join a Forum
Guitar forums bring together individuals of similar interest from all over the world. Forums are very resourceful for a variety of reasons. Exhibit A, forums are terrific for questions and concerns you encounter during the learning phase. If you are stuck on a particular lesson in the book, it’s very difficult to ask the book for any other advice not included in the contents. However, a forum can help solve your dilemma. Please keep in mind that forums are not bulletproof, meaning that not everyone’s advice for the solution is plausible or even true. Make sure you also do your own research, as everyone can pretend to be an expert online.
5. Make a Financial Commitment
The guitar is an investment in itself, but you should take it a step further. In today’s day and age, not everyone needs a private instructor. However, you should invest in some type of course to help direct your efforts. This could range from a standard book on learning the guitar to something as detailed and complex as an actual online course. If you are interested in something like this, check out JamPlay or Learn & Master Guitar. Both of these courses are highly recommended by guitarists.
A lot of beginner guitar players like to jump in and learn to play chords. While that can be fun it doesn’t always provide you with the foundation needed to grow as a more advanced guitar player. I feel it’s important that beginners learn to play the notes on each string first before they begin chords. After all everything, chords and scales, are made up of notes.
This post is going to cover how you can find the notes on each string following an easy to understand pattern. We’ll first discuss the concept of half and whole steps and how this translates to the guitar neck, then we’ll talk about the spacing between each of the 7 musical notes and finally I’ll show you how to find those notes on the guitar neck.
After you read this post I suggest you watch the short video at the end. It explains this post in more detail and gives you a solid example you can follow and try on your own.
Whole and Half Steps
The idea of whole or half steps comes from the piano, unfortunately we’re playing the guitar so we need to understand what that means in terms of a guitar neck. Thankfully it’s quite easy. The guitar neck is divided up in frets. Each fret denotes one half step, so a whole step would be two frets.
Understanding this is the first step to finding the guitar string notes. The second step is understanding how many steps are between each note A through G.
Space Between Notes
We’re only going to worry about the spacing between the 7 major notes A through G. There are sharps and flats in between there but that’s for a more advanced lesson . The spacing between most notes is one step, or two frets with a couple of exceptions. The spacing between B and C is only one half step as well as between E and F. Below is a listing of the space between notes both in steps and frets.
A to B = Full Step or Two Frets
B to C = Half step or One Fret
C to D = Full Step or Two Frets
D to E = Full Step or Two Frets
E to F = Half Step or One Fret
F to G = Full Step or Two Frets
Now that you understand the spacing between notes we can look at some examples on the guitar neck.
Starting with Open String Names and Notes
A quick refresher on the string names, starting from the top Low E we have, E, A, D, G, B and E. The names of the strings also denotes the note when played when you strike that string in the open position (no frets pressed down).
So a quick example on the lo E string.
Starting open we have an E, so if we refer to the listing I gave above what comes next?
That’s right an F note, and the spacing between an E and an F is?
That’s right, only one half step it’s one of the exceptions. So we go from open up one half step to the first fret and that’s an F note.
The next note is a G note, and the spacing between an F and a G is one full step so this time we go up two frets, or to the 3rd fret.
Let’s do one more.
We go from the G back around to an A. What’s the spacing? One full step, so we slid up two more frets to the 5th fret on the low E string and that’s an A note.
Hopefully you can see where I was getting these spacings from, don’t worry if it’s still a little unclear, the video below will explain in more detail. Take a few minutes to watch the video below it will explain all of this in more detail. After watching I urge you to grab your own guitar and give this exercise a try.
Like to learn more great beginner lessons like the notes on each string? Why not try a self study course to learn at home? You can learn more about a program designed to be used at home here in this Learn and Master guitar review. It’s a 25 disc set designed to help you learn from home on your own time and terms.
Alright, so everyone always talks about bringing their “Axe” to battle, but what about the other weapons everyone uses?
Picks, straps, and even the strings we use are essential weapons, with many choices. Your pick is, like wrench monkeys (and others) say: “That’s where the rubber meets the road!”. Like tires on a car, your pick is the connection between your skills, and what’s making the sound. So, guitar picks are the focus for this gear post.
I’d love to hear what your weapon of choice is for guitar picks in the comments section! To get things rolling, I use a standard “USA Nylon” medium (0.60mm) pick when I play my Takamine EGS-330SC Acoustic Electric.
Over the last 12 years or so, I’ve primarily learned new techniques on guitar through learning specific songs I like.
I’ve found that many people simply stick with a very limited number of songs that they enjoy listening to, they get in a rut, and quickly stop their progress because they skip songs with more complex chords and progressions than they’re used to.
One of the best ways to increase your playing abilities is to seek out those tough songs with new and difficult techniques, chords, changes, or solos. Push yourself by picking a hard song, and mastering it over days, or even weeks of practice.
Keep brushing up on your “playlist” of songs you can practically play in your sleep at this point, but always move forward too.
Learning to play guitar can be a rewarding and incredibly fun experience, but sometimes it can be hard to find the right lessons for you. Some people prefer to take lessons from a private instructor, yet others would rather learn with software at home. Others still would prefer to find books and teach themselves. None of those options are any better or worse than the others, but there are pros and cons to each.
This post will look at some factors worth taking into account when choosing how to learn guitar. After all, reviewing the lesson options yourself is the only way you will be able to choose the perfect method for you.
First of all, you want to find a lesson that will give you valuable visual examples of the techniques you will be learning. In the case of learning without a tutor, it helps to find computer lessons that provide you with high quality video guitar lessons showing the hand and finger placement and how to properly follow through techniques.
Most guitar teachers understand how important visual learning is, but if you feel as though you are not seeing enough, then making that clear is essential. Many books on theory and technique have pictures as well. In general, having a personal tutor can be helpful for that reason, but software, DVD’s or online lessons can be just as helpful, and in some cases more so.
Another important part of your decision is simply looking at the musical styles being taught. Genres range from rock, to classical, to jazz, so the different approaches will vary. If you are planning to learn how to play rock, it might be of benefit to you to know if your tutor wants to teach you Bach. The same works with online courses, so it helps to figure this out early so you get on the right track.
A simple yet often overlooked aspect of any guitar lessons you want to take is the difficulty. Yes, learning any new instrument is a challenge, but if from the start things feel too fast-paced, then you probably haven’t found the right program.
Some of the best guitar courses go at a pace that is easy for anyone to learn. Lessons have a natural progression, and as long as you are going at a pace you feel comfortable with, the technique will come in time. This is a major advantage to home study courses and memberships: you can rewind as often as you like!
Of course, there are some aspects to learning any new skill that can be a little tedious, but mind you, no matter what kind of lesson you choose, you can expect a healthy dose of practice to go alongside it. Hopefully my reviews of the lessons I have tried will help you make a decision that makes learning guitar easier for you.
Well…I’ve finally done it. I just finished setting up this blog to give out some of my coolest guitar tips & tricks. Be sure to stop by for some helpful hints to boost your guitar skills and to discuss the courses I’m reviewing.
I like to compare a good song to a shake. The banana may taste alright in itself, but when you blend it with some berries and cream; the end result is a fantastic tasting combination. Thus, you may have a talent for writing lyrics, but the lack of a good sound will dull out the content. Here are the basics components of songwriting:
. The spacing between most notes is one step, or two frets with a couple of exceptions. The spacing between B and C is only one half step as well as between E and F. Below is a listing of the space between notes both in steps and frets.
